Before going on vacation last summer, Brian was looking for one more book to take with him and he found a collection of short stories that looked interesting. “Music for Wartime” by Rebecca Makkai. He picked it up. And well … three books later, he had a new favorite author.
Rebecca joins Brian this week to talk about writing novels and short stories and the writing life.
Rebecca talks about her new novel. The Great Believers, how she came up with the idea for the book and how important her research was to telling an authentic story. She also talks about how her teaching writing informs her own work, why you should never write about dreams, the difference between writing short stories and novels, and how one of her books was like a 300-page Sodoku puzzle. She and Brian also talk about Montessori schools and why they are awesome.
Music for Wartime: Stories by Rebecca Makkai
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Dideon
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